Disambiguating ambiguity: Providing a framework for classifying types of ambiguity

Baker, Guilia and Aldridge-Waddon, Michelle 2021. Disambiguating ambiguity: Providing a framework for classifying types of ambiguity. Linguistics and the Human Sciences 14 (3) , pp. 237-260. 10.1558/lhs.19339 Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This paper addresses inconsistencies in findings for children’s humour development by examining the ways in which five different ambiguity types (lexical, phonological, morphological, syntactic and idiomatic) have been interpreted and applied in earlier studies on humour comprehension. It identifies discrepancies in linguistic phenomena perceived to constitute each ambiguity type and highlights how differences have contributed to contrasting claims being made about ambiguity types comprehended by young children during the final humour stage. Definitions are subsequently provided for each ambiguity type examined. Definitions accommodate the fact that verbal humour is intrinsically embedded with the form in which it is delivered (i.e. the language in which it is communicated) and are based upon linguistic phenomena through which ambiguity types are manifested. Application of these definitions should now allow the researcher to be sure of linguistic phenomena being tested at any given time and facilitate comparison and contextualisation of findings across future studies

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	Equinox Publishing
ISSN:	1742-2906
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	10 January 2020
Date of Acceptance:	6 January 2020
Last Modified:	13 Oct 2021 15:24
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/128412

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